Magpie

“Magpie are a rare bird in these parts, somewhere above and below terra cognito.

Whistling tunes about magic.

Unnerve the balance of beauty, and touch fate again, reconstituting in the river.

It’s in the mix, the crumbling hush that loves you.”

Magpie EP

In 1994,atMike Cyr’s Sorceror’s Sound, Magpie evolved as a four-piece, and releases their best tracks yet on an untitled EP with four groundbreaking songs: the rousinglyfatal Dread, the skimbleshanksiansound of the seattle-rific Bellyup, the paced deliberation of Steeplechase, and the yearning prayer of Sweet Reprisal (which happens to feature some of the best vocals ever recorded round these parts, thanks to Mark Quinn…)

This eponymous EP also features the most beautiful cover art, assembled by Jen Wolcin, Michelle Gemma, and Rich Martin.

Paper + Plastic

Magpie, in this instance solo trackster CJ Stankewich, delivers a twelve song canon swirling in psychedelic sonik intensity. Paper + Plastic is the intriguingly raw period after CJ’s work in the Skimbleshanks, just prior to the more majestic full-throttle four-piece version of Magpie.

Several of the tracks were conceived, but never finished, in the Skimbleshanks and Irwin Project (w/Martin & Tarbox), several are proto versions of later Magpie standards, and several of these excursions exist only on this cassette. The cover art, by Jen Wolcin, and the design of the cassette, by Rich Martin, are classic album art, ideally conveying the music within.